LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 441, 5 December 1947, Page 32

LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS

(Pathé-Tricolore) HEN it was released in Paris just after the Liberation, Les Enfants du Paradis aroused an interest more lively than that shown in any French film for a long time; and one has little doubt, after seeing the picture at an Auckland

preview, that-provided sufficient people overcome the current prejudice against foreign films-it will also be widely talked about and enjoyed here, In France some of the interest was doubtless caused by the length of the film, its long and costly production and spectacular crowd scenes; just as in Britain such facts of production roused. interest in, and controversy about, Pascal’s Caesar and Cleopatra. But by the time the film had crossed the. Channel and the Atlantic and now the Pacific, these details had become immaterial and critics were prepared to judge the result; Serious commentators have regarded the film as important. C. A, Lejeune, in the London Observer, spoke — of it as "the crown of the cinema" and recommended it to "any--one who relishes fine performance, exact dialogue, magnificent manipulation, and an honest, if fatalistic, groping toward a philosophy." Other critics, both British and American, have been more sparing in their praise, one suggesting that Marcel Carné, the producer, drowned himself beneath the "superabundance of photogenic material, sets, costumes and extras, (and the) waves of dialogue." * * * ‘THE idea behind the film might well have been suggested by Shakespeare’s oft-quoted line "All the world’s a stage." The setting is the theatrical quarter of Paris near the Boulevard du Temple something more than a century ago, and the film depicts the interweaving of two dramas-that of real life and that played out on the stage. In a sense these two themes are epitomised in the characters of the actor Frederic Lemaitre (Pierre Brasseur), who wel comes a turn in his love affairs which causes him jealousy, for it enables him to play Othello; and the assassin Lacenaire (Marcel Herrand), who finds his drama in real life. _ By contrast, in the part of the mime Baptiste Debureau (Jean-Louis Bare rault), the intertwining of the two dramas is clearly seen. Baptiste lives out his life to the full and plays his stage character no less completely, but we are shown in remarkable fashion the effect of his off-stage life upon his acting, and, to a lesser extent, that of his acting ypon his fortunes in real life. The miming sequences are among the most memorable of any I have seen in recent years. At the beginning of his stage career, Baptiste explains to Lemaitre that he wants to make the audience cry as well as make them laugh, and with the two mimes describ« ing an unsuccessful attempt at suici and the unsuccessful wooing of a sta (in both of which one sees the influence of real-life drama) this is achieved. * * * i

VEN if .there were nothing else of merit in the film it would be worth sitting out the remainder of the two and three-quarter hours for the sake of these sequences, But, of course, there are other points to its credit. The love scenes are such as to make the standard (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) Hollywood treatment oof similar sequences appear adolescent by comparison. The acting, even in the case of lesser characters, is of excellent standard; the film’s dramatic interest is sustained throughout its length; and though the English captions are more necessary than they were in La Kermesse Hérorque, the picture is easy enough to follow. Many of the character-studies, even in the case of comparatively minor roles, are first rate. The audience is told not only what the characters are but why. Nonetheless, I feel that fewer characters would have improved the film. Earlier was quoted a criticism which has been made of the director; perhaps the fault is more basic than that and lies rather with the script-writer. Jacques Prévert has written a brilliant play, Witty, sensible and attaining a high "degree of verisimilitude, and he has icceeded in "putting across" his main theme; but I feel that while he has courageously taken a huge canvas and painted an impressive picture, we would have been more satisfied had he eliminated some of the prominent detail in the foreground. Despite this criticism, The Children of the Gods-the title refers to the gallery of the theatre-is both good film "and good entertainment.

-Reviewed, in Auckland, by

P.

M.